Parallel Sysplex Operations and Problem Determination

This class provides guidelines for dealing with the many and various operational problems that can occur within the sysplex environment. It examines the operations environment, and covers such areas as the use of system symbols to create a cloned environment, how the consoles should be set up in a sysplex, and the new commands and command facilities for sysplex operations. It also explains the IPL process and how it changes in a sysplex, and explains the correct way to IPL and remove systems in this new environment, as well as covering the various new errors that can occur at IPL time and how to deal with them. In the problem determination area, the class examines how all the major points of failure can be detected, recognised and dealt with, including such areas as loss of systems, signalling paths, coupling facilities, structures, sysplex timers and couple datasets.

This class is for system programmers, operations and support staff who need to operate, and recognise and respond to problems occurring in, the parallel sysplex environment.

To gain maximum benefit from this class, students should first attend the Parallel Sysplex Technical Overview class, or have a good understanding of the principles and concepts of the parallel sysplex.

At the end of this class, students will be able to:

• Understand the use of system symbols and the cloning facilities in z/OS.
• Set up an appropriate console environment for a sysplex and operate successfully within it.
• Understand the IPL process in a sysplex environment and IPL a system to both initialize the sysplex and join an active sysplex.
• Correctly shut down and remove a system from the sysplex, and respond correctly to any problems experienced when IPL’ing a system into the sysplex.
• Understand the Sysplex Failure Manager and Automatic Restart Manager components and operate successfully within these environments.
• Recognise and respond appropriately to coupling facility or CF structure failures, XCF signalling path problems (whether CTC failure or signalling structure failure), and sysplex timer related problems.

Introduction.
The Operations Environment.
Sysplex Operations.
IPL Problem Determination.
Runtime Problem Determination.